Pay $5 to Name a Crater on Mars

Uwingu, a start-up company trying to raise funds for space research has invited internet users to name craters on Mars.

The company says that users can sort through 500,000 scientifically cataloged craters and name any one of them. Prices for naming the craters start at $5 per name. The price goes up depending on the size of the crater.

According to a statement by Uwingu, only 15,000 craters have been named by scientists and that 500,000 scientifically cataloged craters remain unnamed.

The company seeks to name all the known craters on the Red Planet by 2015- before the 50^th anniversary of Mariner 4 spacecraft's flyby.

According to Alan Stern, the planetary scientist and founder of Uwingu, selling crater names could generate $10 million for space research, nbcnews reported.

Stern said that the proposed names for craters will be screened to remove any offensive names.

"Every   crater   named  on this  public Mars map contributes to the Uwingu fund for space Research and education," added Stern in a news release.  "So name a crater on Mars-and make  an impact of your own!"              

This isn't the first time that Uwingu has asked the public to name cosmic bodies. Last year, the company had come up with a scheme of letting internet users name over 700 exoplanets. It had said then that users could name one exoplanet for as little as $4.99.

But, can a person really name a cosmic body by paying money to  a fundraising company?

International Astronomical Union had issued a statement April, 2013 saying that nobody can buy the rights to name planets.